Malaysian Grand Prix

It wasn’t an exciting end to the next race, though. The Malaysian Grand Prix was red-flagged after 31 laps of a scheduled 56 as the track was flooded by a rain storm. The teams waited around for the conditions to improve but with the skies darkening as evening drew in the race was abandoned.

Rikhart: This situation is just laughable, what on earth are they doing just call it quits.

Spanish Grand Prix

Brawn had shown the first signs of their potential in testing at the Circuit de Catalunya before the season began. The white cars routed the opposition when they returned for the Spanish Grand Prix.

But a questionable strategy decision for Rubens Barrichello left many of us baffled. It ended up costing him the win to Button.

siva: Brawn running away with the championship.z0rs: We are at half race distance.Oliver: Barrichello might as well have taken more fuel on board, he’s got Massa ahead of him.Henrick: Button, Massa and Vettel have to stop… they will be heavier than Barrichello. Barrichello has the upper hand.F1 Fanatic: Barrichello’s strategy makes no sense. When you’re leading you need a damn good reason to sacrifice track position.

Turkish Grand Prix

The Turkish Grand Prix looked set for a thrilling Vettel-versus-Button race as the pair lined up on the front row of the grid.

But the contest fizzled out after half a lap as Vettel ran wide at turn nine, allowing Button into a lead he never lost. At this point in the season no-one would have guessed this was Button’s last win of the year.

zerogee: See how dirty the track was out there?Dan Bigham: Vettel, why oh why.Franton: Vettel went off the track and let Button through

British Grand Prix

Red Bull hit back with an upgraded car at Silverstone allowing Vettel to take his second win of the year.

Brawn struggled – a development step proved problematic and suddenly Button couldn’t get heat into his tyres. He was running sixth at the end of the race when he caught Nico Rosberg, but couldn’t get close enough to pass the Williams.

csharp: No way Button will overtake Rosberg. You have to be really great driver to overtake here today.rich: Rosberg looks like he’ll hold on unless he makes a mistake.Chua: Button has two laps to do it.mickey: So Button still trying at Rosberg?Adrian: Jenson just isn’t close enough… the dirty air is hurting him now.

German Grand Prix

McLaren had a dismal race at Silverstone but a major upgrade on Hamilton’s car at the Nurburgring allowed him to challenge for a win. At least, until he tagged Mark Webber’s car at the first corner.

Webber, starting from pole position, hit two cars before he even reached the first bend. The other, with Barrichello, earned him a drive-through penalty – but he still romped home to an impressive maiden victory.

Elly: Hamilton punctured his tyre by touching Webber.MatStace: Aggressive weave by Webber on Barrichello off the start too.John H: Didn’t outbrake himself then – he would have almost led the race.F1 Fanatic: Hamilton got his puncture from contact with Webber. In the GP2 race this morning Petrov got a penalty for less than that.MattC: Will Webber get a penalty?Dan Bigham: No, wasn’t his fault.

Hungarian Grand Prix

The Hungarian Grand Prix was overshadowed by the shock accident suffered by Felipe Massa during qualifying.

In the race Fernando Alonso led before coming in early for fuel. It all went wrong for Renault who failed to get all four wheels on the car during the pit stop. The team were later excluded from the next round at Valencia, but the punishment was annulled on appeal.

Ronman: the whole tyre is wriggling.Journeyer: It’s 2006 all over again for Alonso.Lee Harrison: It’s come off!Elly: The wheel has come off!Dan Bigham: Safety car methinks.Damon: The Renault mechanics runied it for Alonso.Tiomkin: Alonso wheel off, bouncing down the road.Hakka: Shouldn’t he park it?

European Grand Prix

While Button continued to struggle Barrichello was back at the sharp end. He won for the first time in four-and-a-half years after passing Hamilton via the pit stops at the end of the race.

McLaren fumbled Hamilton’s final stop, but Barrichello had enough laps it hand that it wouldn’t have made a difference. Button finished seventh after being squeezed by Vettel at the start and was starting to come under pressure.

Austin: McLaren blew it for Hamilton, would love to know why they pitted on that lap and werent ready, was it Hamilton’s call or Whitmarsh?Sumedh: If Rubens pitted a massive three laps earlier, then he probably would have won the race anyway.

Kimi Raikkonen passed Fisichella at the restart and took the win by less than a second. But on the live blog there was much debate over whether his off-track excursion on the first lap had been within the rules.

Ned: Raikkonen should be penalised for thatBenno: Will Kimi get penalty for that? (running wide at first corner on purpose)Damon: Barrichello overslept the startIDR: Kimi using a big part off track gaining positions… stewards?Xenia: Do we really think it was Kimi’s fault?Journeyer: It’ll be hard to prove, Ned.Ned: YepCholtz: Should Kimi get a stop and go for driving on the run off, since he made places because of it.

Italian Grand Prix

Brawn were back to their pre-Silverstone form with an emphatic one-two at Monza. But Hamilton pushed them hard for the win until, on the final lap, he speared into the barriers while trying to put Button under pressure for second.

Chaz: Lewis out.Austin: Hamilton has blown it.IDR: Unexpected finish!Arun Srini: aah… Kimi P3 and Sutil P4,francois: Can’t say he wasn’t trying!MattC: Now that is a finish.vee8: What on earth just happened to Hamilton?Lee Harrison: Damn, he was my last hope in the prediction with Kovy’s failure.SuperRelax: Lost concentration?Alex: Kimi on the podium!benno: Long walk home for HamRonman: That’s what happens when you try to hard I guess… but I really respect Hami for trying.

Japanese Grand Prix

A spate of penalties during qualifying left Button ninth – and unable to keep the KERS-equipped Heikki Kovalainen, tenth, behind him at the start.

Fortunately for Button he picked up two places when Kovalainen tried a little too hard to keep Sutil behind him. That allowed Button to finish in Barrichello’s wheel tracks, losing only a point to his team mate, but a crushing win for Vettel kept him in the championship hunt.

Robert McKay: Kovi he did you, let him go for God’s sake.Darren: Sutil and Kovalainen crashMark Hitchcock: Oh for goodness sake Kovi!F1_Gal: Sutil you idiot.Kimster: Jenson gets past both of them.steph: Great so once again Button handed it on a plate.

Brazilian Grand Prix

Button made life hard for himself in Brazil, qualifying 14th in a rain-hit session while Barrichello started from pole position.

But while Barrichello’s strategy left him vulnerable to the cars behind him, Button made his way up through the field. He was already in position to seal the title when Barrichello picked up a puncture from contact with Hamilton. Fifth place was enough to give Button the title.

goofy: Well done jenson, well done brawnNick B: Took JB long enoughNoel Slevin: did anyone else see something was throw at Hamilton’s car as he went past from the crowd!Nick: WoohoooooLAK: He did it!JUGNU: Button ChampionKimster: Brawn GP 2009 WCC!adaptalis:@noel. i sawAndromeda: Button is the new world champion!jesp: Fantastic!IDR: Absolutely fantastic!LAK: Button singing “we are the champions”

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Abu Dhabi, 2009

The spectacular Yas Island complex made for an eye-catching last race of the season. It was short on action, though, until Button and Webber traded blows over second place on the final lap. Somehow, Webber clung on to keep Button behind.

As ever, I think the live blogs have made watching F1 even more entertaining and I hope you all agree.

Thanks very much to everyone who joined in this year and special thanks to our team of moderators who helped out including Arun Srinisivan, Dan Bigham, Vee8, Guillaume Lafrance, IDR, John Beamer, Darren Hector, Adam Lewis, Journeyer, Lee Harrison, MAK, Rich, Robert McKay, Marc, Scott Joslin, Aaron, Macca, Anirudh, Elly, Bruno, Andromeda, LAK and Steph. (I think that’s everyone but if I’ve missed someone out I do apologise!)

Sorry for double post but I pressed ‘submit’ by mistake.
Thanks to all the mods who worked so hard and probably missed a fair amount of action. Thank you also to everyone who took part. There was a great energy and feel to the chat and that is because of all of you.
Keith will we have the live chat for testing?:p

Being a founder member of “the Grumpy Old Men” club, I often disagree with some of the comments posted, but,every so often, I read something that makes me stop and think that perhaps I am the one who is wrong.

So, thanks Keith for setting it up and thanks mods for all your hard work.

Button wasn’t struggling so much there was he? He qualified 5th, one place behind Vettel and only 2 places behind Barrichello. After the start Button was overtaking Vettel, but Vettel pushed Button off.

That led to a series of events where Button had to lift to avoid a crash with Vettel and then also Alonso and Webber were able to block and overtake Button.

Live blogs helped keep me pretty well-informed throughout the season, since I was at work during most of the races (“Oh, ask the Jewish girl to work Sundays, she won’t mind!”). And since this is basically NASCAR country (with a few IRL fans) and barely anyone I know watches F1, I usually have no one to talk to about it, so I’m glad I have you guys to keep me company for the next few months, too!